'Astonishing X-Men' to host Marvel Comics' first gay wedding

Gay Marvel Comics character Northstar will marry his partner, Kyle, in Astonishing X-Men #51. The wedding will take place this month in Astonishing's latest comic.

Marvel Comics editor-in-chief, Axel Alonso, talked with Rolling Stone about the implications surrounding Northstar's marriage to Kyle. He said much of it was inspired by the recent gay marriage milestone in New York.

"When gay marriage became legal in New York State, it raised obvious questions since most of our heroes reside in New York State. Northstar is the first openly gay character in comics and he's been in a long term relationship with his partner Kyle so the big question was – how would this change his relationship?" Alonso mentioned about legalized gay marriage in New York. "Our comics are always best when they respond to and reflect developments in the real world. We've been doing that for decades, and this is just the latest expression of that."

Northstar was revealed to be gay by Marvel Comics in 1992. His partner, Kyle, is not a superhero, but just a regular man. Along with the difficulties the two characters will face with marriage among their peers and society, Astonishing X-Men writer and romance novelist, Marjorie Liu, told Rolling Stone about further personal struggles Northstar and Kyle's relationship will come up against.

"I looked at relationships between police officers, soldiers, etcetera, and their spouses," Lui mentioned about the couple's different job dynamic. "You have, for example, one partner who is always going off into dangerous situations, whose 'team' at work is an important, integral, part of their lives, and then you've got the person left behind. So, thinking about Kyle in those terms, empathizing with him, I've had to mull the strains and stresses that being with Northstar would put on him, those parts of his life that he feels are lacking, what he wants long-term that he's afraid he can't have, and so on."

Lui further mentioned that Northstar and Kyle's marriage is not only just a sign of hope for LGBT-identified people, but for all those who have felt left out of a group or like an outsider for other reasons as well.

"Here are two people, trying to live their lives – mutant and gay, black and gay – empowered in their own ways, but also fringe-dwellers," Lui told Rolling Stone. "And they're making it happen. They're living life on their own terms. It doesn't matter that it's a superhero comic, the message is: You can do the same thing."